The subject matter herein relates generally to cable assemblies for electrical connectors.
High speed differential connectors are known and used in electrical systems, such as communication systems to transmit signals within a network. Some electrical systems utilize cable mounted electrical connectors to interconnect the various components of the system.
Signal loss and/or signal degradation is a problem in known electrical systems. For example, cross talk results from an electromagnetic coupling of the fields surrounding an active conductor or differential pair of conductors and an adjacent conductor or differential pair of conductors. The strength of the coupling generally depends on the separation between the conductors, thus, cross talk may be significant when the electrical connectors are placed in close proximity to each other.
Moreover, as speed and performance demands increase, known electrical connectors are proving to be insufficient. Additionally, there is a desire to increase the density of electrical connectors to increase throughput of the electrical system, without an appreciable increase in size of the electrical connectors, and in some cases, with a decrease in size of the electrical connectors. Such increase in density and/or reduction in size causes further strains on performance.
In order to address performance, some known systems utilize shielding to reduce interference between the contacts of the electrical connectors. However, the shielding utilized in known systems is not without disadvantages. For instance, terminating of shielding components to the cable shield of the cable is difficult. Some known systems crimp a shield element directly to the cable shield. However, crimping of the shield element to the cable shield may damage the cable shield. Additionally, the crimping may change the shape and/or relative position of the cable shield to the signal conductors, which may negatively affect the characteristics of the cable, such as the impedance of the signals.
A need remains for an electrical connector having improved cable termination and shielding to meet particular performance demands.